A scathing report on the Fire Department and its veteran chief, Leonard E. Senecal, says the department is crippled by weak leadership, low morale and inadequate maintenance of firetrucks, firefighters’ breathing apparatus and other equipment.

The 166-page assessment by consultant Ernest Horn, who is also the police and fire chief and acting town coordinator in Mendon, was released yesterday and calls for overhauling the department, but stops short of recommending the chief’s resignation.

“While on the surface the department maintains the appearance of operational readiness, the evidence indicates that the department is operating in a dangerous state of disrepair and significant course changes are urgently needed,” the report states.

Town Administrator Shaun A. Suhoski, citing personnel privacy, declined to say whether Chief Senecal, 61, would be disciplined or fired. The chief has been given the opportunity to present a written response to the report at the April 16 selectmen’s meeting, at which Mr. Horn will also be present, Mr. Suhoski said.

“The findings of the report are certainly a bit more dire than we would have hoped for,” Mr. Suhoski said, adding that he is confident the chief has begun working to fix the most serious problems. “The chief has referred to it as a wake-up call.”

The report may be read on the town’s website at

Among the problems Mr. Horn identified are:

•Unkempt conditions in the fire station, including trash piled in fire escapes

•No vehicle maintenance records

•Controlled substances stored in unlocked file cabinets

•“Complete breakdown in communications between the chief and the staff”

•Lack of standardized policies and procedures

•Unclear chain of command when chief is not present

•Inadequate training

•Ineffective scheduling and staffing, including lack of full-time firefighters assigned to weekend shifts

•The town’s rescue boat being used to store old equipment, making it impossible to immediately to use the boat in rescue situations

Chief Senecal has headed the department for 30 years. His annual salary is $77,000.

He said he has no plans to step down.

“Let me say that’s there’s a lot of misinformation in it,” he said of the report. “We’ve corrected some of the situations, and some of it was already being done before the report.”

The chief acknowledged that staff morale is “down a bit.” “We’re working on it,” he said.

“I’m looking into the maintenance recommendations on what we have to do,” he said. “A lot of (the trucks) don’t have that many miles on them.”

As for the rescue boat, he said it is not used during the winter and it took about a half-hour to remove some “old stuff” that had been stored in it.

Mr. Horn, along with a mechanic and an emergency medical services specialist, spent time at the department doing research for the report, produced by Mr. Horn’s firm, Municipal Consultants of New England, for $3,000.

“There’s no danger to the citizens of the town or firefighters in my department,” the chief asserted.

The report characterizes the chief as amiable and experienced in firefighting techniques but “autocratic” in management style, unwilling to consider the input of employees.

“The Chief enjoys department-wide respect for his on-scene capabilities,” the report states. “Additionally, there is very little personal dislike for him within the department or from town officials.

“Unfortunately ... he lacks an equal strength in managing the department’s personnel and other affairs,” the report continues.

The report found that while the Fire Department budget under-funds maintenance at $7,000 a year, the chief has sometimes returned maintenance money to the town after not spending it.

The report is not entirely critical of the department. Mr. Horn praises the emergency medical services division, which Mr. Suhoski, the town administrator, noted receives the bulk of calls for service in the department, and also highly rates the competence level of employees in general.

Among the report’s key recommendations are that the town should spend more than $100,000 right away to buy new turnout gear, protective clothing and breathing apparatus for the department’s seven full-time and 19 on-call firefighters.

Another recommendation is to clean up the fire station.

“The Chief should not allow ladders, trash and other materials to be stored in fire escapes,” Mr. Horn writes. “Those present a hazard should there be a need to evacuate the building. As Fire Chief, this is a standard to which he holds others in the community and he should therefore lead by example.”

Mr. Horn also suggests that Chief Senecal should take a public speaking class.

Contact Shaun Sutner at ssutner@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @ssutner.

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